This invention relates generally to enhancing the gripping ability of gloves worn on the human hand for a variety of applications, such as participation in sporting events, and industrial purposes and/or other purposes, and, more particularly, to a baseball glove that meets baseball rules and has enhanced ball catching, gripping and/or retention capability.
Glove technology needs to meet the needs of society today. With evergrowing environmental concerns there exists a need in society to produce products which are both environmentally friendly and aid people in carrying out their everyday activities. Participating in sports is one such activity. Gloves are used in a variety of sports both to protect the user""s hands and to aid in gripping ability. The current state of grip enhancing technology for gloves includes use of coating materials or silicon coated materials. Coating materials may include silicon based treatments or other chemical treatments.
Gloves are particularly useful in the game of American baseball; in fact, it would be virtually impossible to play the game without the use of a baseball glove (sometimes referred to as a mitt). The xe2x80x9ccode of rulesxe2x80x9d govern the playing of baseball games by professional teams of the American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, the National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, and the leagues which are members of the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues. Rules 1.11, 1.12 and 1.13 concern baseball gloves or mitts. These rules require that baseball glove be made of leather.
Even with the use of a baseball glove, often it is very difficult for the participants to catch the ball in the glove, whether they are professionals, children or weekend warriors.
Various shapes have been used for baseball gloves for use catching a ball and retaining a caught ball. Some gloves have long extensions, e.g., long fingers or finger portions (including a thumb portion), but the longer the fingers, the greater the tendency of a glove to become too flexible and to lose gripping force transmitted from a player""s fingers and thumb to the remote portion of the glove finger portion. Such flexibility and, to an extent, non-responsiveness immediately to the player""s finger action may lead to a ball falling, sliding or bouncing out of a glove, leading to a xe2x80x9cdropped ballxe2x80x9d rather than to a xe2x80x9ccatch.xe2x80x9d
Baseball gloves currently are made of leather, as the rules require. Usually the smooth side of the leather is exposed as the outside surface of the glove, both on the xe2x80x9cpocketxe2x80x9d (sometimes referred to as the glove""s xe2x80x9csweet spotxe2x80x9d) or front side and on the back outside of the glove. The rougher surface or if a double layer is used, the smooth surface of the glove faces inside, e.g., where the player""s palm, fingers and thumb go. The glove also may include an interior lining and/or padding or shock absorbing material. However, due to the relatively smooth outside surface at the pocket and/or at the fingers generally facing and/or leading to the pocket, a ball may have a tendency to slide out of the glove as a player is attempting to catch a ball and/or to retain a ball in the glove.
Thus, there is a need to improve the ball catching and ball retaining functions of baseball gloves and of other gloves. Examples of other gloves that would benefit from enhanced gripping features are hockey, tennis, golf, and vehicle driving gloves and those used by workers to grip parts, e.g, small parts such as nuts, screws and the like.
Suede is a leather material. Suede usually has a nap with a characteristic smooth direction and a rough or resistant direction (sometimes referred to as the xe2x80x9cbraking directionxe2x80x9d). An object moving, e.g., sliding or rolling, along suede in the smooth direction usually can slide or roll relatively easily. However, an object moving along, e.g., trying to slide or to roll, in the rough or relatively resistant direction will not move as easily as in the smooth direction.
Glove manufacturers have tried to facilitate catching and retaining a ball in a baseball glove by providing their gloves with different coatings on the leather to help keep the ball in the glove after it""s been caught. The use of such coatings is disadvantageous to the environment. Also, chemical coatings may cause users an allergic reaction.
With the above in mind, an aspect of the invention relates to a sports glove including leather material having several portions respectively secured to form an interior for one or more digits (thumb and/or fingers) of a user, at least one of the leather material portions having a grain or nap on an exterior surface, the nap having a relatively smooth direction and a relatively braking direction, and the at least one portion oriented with the resistant or braking direction to resist movement of a ball out of the glove.
Another aspect relates to a sports glove including leather material including several portions respectively secured to form an interior for one or more digits of a user, at least one of the leather material portions having a nap on an exterior surface, the nap having a relatively smooth direction and a relatively resistant to sliding direction, and the at least one portion oriented with the resistant direction to resist relative movement between an object and the glove.
Another aspect relates to a glove for use on the hand of a person, including a material having a grain or nap favoring smooth movement along the nap in one direction and tending to resist or to oppose movement in a different direction, the material patterned in a shape to include an interior space for at least part of a hand used to manipulate the glove, and the material having an exterior, the nap being at the exterior and oriented to enhance gripping.
Another aspect relates to a baseball glove, including a finger portion and a pocket, the finger portion having a nap with a smooth direction leading toward the pocket and a rough direction resisting sliding movement away from the pocket.
Another aspect relates to a method of making a glove including attaching together a number of glove portions, at least one of which has a nap with a smooth direction and a braking direction, and orienting such nap as to provide a preferred smooth direction and a preferred braking direction that tends to resist sliding, rolling or other movement with respect thereto compared to the smooth direction.
Another aspect of the invention relates to a glove including a front, a back, a finger section, a thumb portion, a ball pocket, an opening for the hand, a suede leather material with nap in a first direction, a suede leather material with nap in a second direction, a web portion between the thumb and the finger section, a shock absorbing material, a palm portion, an inside stitch line, a middle stitch line, a top stitch line, a top ball pocket stitch line, a hand opening stitch line and an inside front surface. The suede leather material covers a majority of the front of the glove. The suede materials each have a nap facing in a generally uniform direction. The two suede leather materials are oriented on the front surface of the glove such that the direction of the naps of each leather material face each other.
According to another aspect, a glove also includes a smooth leather ball pocket section on the front surface of the glove, in addition to a finger portion at least part of which is of suede material or the like that has a smooth direction toward the pocket.
Another aspect relates to a shaft for an implement and a material on a portion of the shaft, the material having a nap, the nap having a smooth direction and an opposite direction, and wherein the nap directions are coordinated with respect to the axis of the shaft to enhance retention of the shaft during use of the implement.
Another aspect relates to a combination of a shaft for an implement and a glove, the shaft having a material on a portion thereof, the material having a nap, the nap having a smooth direction and an opposite direction, the glove including a material having a nap that has a smooth direction and an opposite direction, and wherein the respective opposite directions being coordinated to enhance retention of the shaft by use of the glove.
One or more of the above and other aspects, objects, features and advantages of the present invention are accomplished using the invention described and claimed below.
To the accomplishment of the foregoing and related ends, the invention, then, comprises the features hereinafter fully described and particularly pointed out in the claims. The following description and the annexed drawings set forth in detail certain illustrative embodiments of the invention. These embodiments are indicative, however, of but a few of the various ways in which the principles of the invention may be employed.
Although the invention is shown and described with respect to certain embodiments, it is obvious that equivalents and modifications will occur to others skilled in the art upon the reading and understanding of the specification. The present invention includes all such equivalents and modifications, and is limited only by the scope of the claims.